About InnovationX

What defines us

Entrepreneurship for all Majors

InnovationX, our Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, is a training ground for turning our focus on problem-solving into results and sustainable businesses. While the center lives in our College of Business, InnovationX serves students of any major across OSU and promotes access to entrepreneurship programming for our communities.

The center delivers programming that allows students to explore entrepreneurship, participate in entrepreneurship activities, test new business ideas, and launch new ventures. The center also builds an inclusive culture of entrepreneurship across the institution so that every OSU student has access to entrepreneurship resources and feels welcomed into the entrepreneurship community. Read more about our approach, as well as how we measure our success.

Programs include workshops, networking events, business idea competitions, startup support, classes and degrees, community outreach and more.

Ken and Joan Austin in 1985 (on the right).

Our History

Student entrepreneurship programming at OSU was seeded by Ken Austin in 2004 with the launch of the Austin Entrepreneurship Program (AEP), a living-learning residential program for first-year College of Business students interested in entrepreneurship. AEP served the 300 students residing in Weatherford Hall until 2015.

As the college grew, limiting the living-learning residential program to only Weatherford Hall residents was causing many students to miss out on the amazing opportunities offered by AEP. In 2015, it was determined that AEP should grow into a program that could serve all students in the College of Business.

The success of AEP led to the college's expanded Innovation Nation living-learning community, where all first-year College of Business students live in Weatherford or Poling Halls and have a dynamic learning environment. Courses and activities optimized for student engagement and success. Meanwhile, the academic aspects of AEP — the focus on teaching students about the entrepreneurial process — have evolved into an integral part of the Innovation Nation experience, where students learn how to create revenue-generating microbusinesses.